Mangalore, April 18: District Congress Interim President Ibrahim Kodijal said that Dakshina Kannada constituency registered the highest voting percentage at the Lok Sabha elections held on April 17, showing a sign pro-Congress wave in D.K.

Speaking at the press meet held at Congress Election office on April 18, Friday, he thanked the voters and supporters of district who exercised their franchise.

He also appreciated the effort of Electing Commission and DC and District Election officer AB Ibrahim, who has worked hard for the smooth and peacefully polling in Dakshina Kannada.

He also said that he was confidence that the voters in large number have elected congress candidate B Janardhana Poojary and would help to rule the district and country at large.

Congress Spokesperson Kallige Taranath Shetty, Mayor Mahabala Maarla, Mayor and others were present.

Mangalore, April 19: An incident took between two buses claims a life of one of the driver, injuring 15 passengers at Kolnad near Mulky on April 19, Saturday at 5.45 am.

Reportedly, a KSRTC sleeper bus moving towards Hubli from Mangalore rammed into a private bus ‘Pragathi’ plying between Bangalore and Udupi.

According to the eyewitness, the KSTRC bus was moving in a high speed on the wrong direction, in order to overtake another vehicle, hit the private bus coming from opposite direction.

The KSRTC bus driver died on the spot, while the private bus driver sustained critical injuries and have been admitted for treatment at Srinivas Hospital at Mukka.

A case have been registered a case at Mulky police station.

Mangalore, Apr 19: An over speeding car topples and rolls into Gurpur river, on the way to Mangalore airport on April 19, Saturday at 6:30 am.

The incident took place when a car Maruthi Eeco (KA 20 P 4734), driven by Sulaiman from Udupi to Mangalore airport lost control over the vehicle.

Although the car was badly damaged, the driver of the car Sulaiman escaped with minor injuries and was admitted to Wenlock hospital for treatment.

It is learnt that Sulaiman was on the way to airport to pick his relatives. Panambur police have registered a case.

Chikmagalur, Apr 19: The Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) sleuths shot an innocent Mangalore based cattle trader traveling in a transportation vehicle near Sringeri check post on the Chikmagalur-Karkala state highway on April 19, Saturday.

The deceased is identified as Kabeer (30), son of one Idinabba hailing from Krishnapura near Suratkal.

According to the sources, when the ANF sleuths were checking vehicles in the area, saw a vehicle carrying five men, moving towards Kerala stopped them, but when they did not stop as per their order, the officials opened fire at the vehicle, which hit the youth killing him on the spot.

Reportedly, the other people in the vehicle were Farooq from Jokatte, who was arrested while other three are driver Pramod, Sarfaraz and Rafiq from Jokatte who escaped from them.

Tension prevailed at Ragimuddanahalli in Mandya taluk on Thursday midnight, when about 15 people belonging to one group allegedly attacked members of another group over a trivial issue, prompting the Police Department to deploy additional personnel in the village.

The group clash, according to the police, erupted after a member of one group went to answer nature’s call near the house of a villager. Immediately, some miscreants went berserk and attacked other members of that group in the village.
Property damage

The miscreants allegedly damaged a few vehicles, including a tractor, according to the police.

The situation has been brought under control.

“We are on the lookout for others involved in the incident,” Superintendent of Police Bhushan Gulabrao Borase told presspersons. A case has been registered and a probe ordered into the incident. In all, eight persons were injured and they have been admitted to a hospital in Mandya.

The number of convicts released on parole from various prisons in the State has been on the rise from the past eight to10 years with the Bangalore Central Prison alone registering a four-fold increase in grant of parole for general reasons.

According to the statistics submitted recently to the Karnataka High Court by prison authorities , around 2,400 convicts were released on general parole between 2006 and 2013 from the Bangalore Central Prison.

While 137 convicts were granted general parole in 2006 in Bangalore prison, the number increased to 462 in 2013.

In Belgaum jail, 14 convicts were granted general parole in 2009 and the number rose to 34 in 2012–13. Similarly, in Bijapur prison, eight convicts were released on general parole in 2006 and 67 in 2013. As many as 44 convicts were released on general parole from Mysore jail in 2004 and the number rose to 188 in 2012.

Bellary prison, however, has recorded minimum rise in the number of convicts granted parole as the figure varied between 30 and 52 from the past 10 years.

While 121 convicts were released on parole for emergency reasons during 2006 in Bangalore prison, the number increased to 397 in 2012. However, the highest number of emergency paroles, 778, was granted in 2009, followed by 535 in 2010, 509 in 2008, and 505 in 2010 in Bangalore prison.

In Bijapur jail, only four convicts were released on emergency parole in 2004 and the number rose to 365 in 2011, and it dropped to 58 in 2013.

Interestingly, there has been a steep fall in the number of emergency paroles granted in Belgaum jail — from 204 in 2009–10 to 43 in 2012–13.
Stress on ‘liberal parole’

Though the grant of parole to actor Sanjay Dutt and its repeated extension had raised eyebrows, legal experts said that the Supreme Court, in its verdicts from the late 70s, had described that “penological innovation in the shape of parole is claimed to be a success in rehabilitation and checking recidivism.”

The apex court in Maru Ram vs. Union of India case of 1980 observed that “penal humanitarianism and rehabilitative desideratum warrant liberal paroles, subject to security safeguards, and other humanising strategies for inmates so that the dignity and worth of the human person are not desecrated by making mass jails anthropoid zoos…,” said a former State Public Prosecutor.

“Parole is not a suspension of the sentence. The convict continues to be serving the sentence despite released on parole on the promise of consisting good behaviour and after serving part of sentence,” said advocate C.R. Gopalaswamy citing verdicts of the Supreme Court.

CHANDIGARH: Harsharanjit Singh flew to India last December for a month-long vacation after having launched a software company in Belgium. But within days, he was campaigning for the Aam Aadmi Party.

The software consultant went back to Belgium after holidaying with his doctor wife and seven-year-old daughter, but for just four days, just to complete the visa extension formalities so as to return to India and resume campaigning. Singh is among several non-resident Indians who have found time from their busy professional lives to help the fledgling party led by Arvind Kejriwal.

AAP, which raised the issue of corruption and stunned its rivals by finishing second in its first electoral outing in the Delhi assembly polls last December, marks the beginning of a new kind of politics in the country, says Singh. But he is not the only one in his family to pay the price for his decision. While Singh has not returned to Belgium to look after his company, which he has left to his associates, his wife has not attended her clinic in Delhi since December and their daughter missed her final examinations for second standard. Such is their determination that Singh and his wife Kanwaljit Kaur leave behind Harkirat, their daughter, in a creche while they are out campaigning. Harkirat seems to share their enthusiasm as she insists on tagging along to distribute caps and pamphlets of the party. Like Singh, many other NRIs are supporting and contributing to AAP.

From formulating strategies, gathering donations and making phone calls to Indians from abroad to arranging fundraising events, these NRIs are working unstintingly to create what they believe is a “political revolution” to root out corruption and other ills that plague Indian politics. Several NRIs have left behind their lucrative jobs or businesses in foreign shores, undeterred by the financial losses. Some of them have been living alone in India for the past six months, having left their families abroad. From engineers to doctors and even students, NRIs from different walks of life and age groups are actively participating and supporting AAP.

Munish Raizada, 45, a Chicago-based doctor was taken in by social activist Anna Hazare’s movement, with which Kejriwal was closely associated before he launched AAP. Raizada quit his job and returned to India last July, leaving his wife and two sons behind. Since then, Raizada has been busy in fundraising , building a database to come up with poll strategies and gathering NRIs for support of AAP. In May last year, he was a key member of the convention held in Chicago which was addressed by Kejriwal via Google.

After remaining actively associated with Kejriwal in Delhi, Raizada moved to Chandigarh. Though he was a contender for ticket from Chandigarh, he did not protest when Gul Panag was fielded by the party from the city beautiful. “I may be suffering on the financial front but I have no regrets on my decision. For, nation comes first. We cannot keep sitting on the fence and blame the system. It is only AAP which has the potential of providing an honest and transparent government,” he told ET from Chicago, where he has gone for two weeks. He plans to return next week to join Kejriwal in his campaign in Varanasi.

Shamsheer, a 25-year-old final year student of Aeronautical Sciences in Florida says he was peeved with the “bureaucratic and corrupt” set-up in the country. While on a vacation in India, he had a transformative experience when he went to an office in Chandigarh to apply for a driving licence. “I was introduced to touts by a cop. I returned home disgusted ,” he says, adding that the experience led him to pick up the broom (AAP symbol) to cleanse the system.

Now that he is busy with AAP, his final year examinations will have to wait until the end of Lok Sabha polls. Singh, who was associated with AAP since its launch, says while he was in Belgium he called 40,000 Indians to request them to vote for the party. “I could not help associating myself with the party as I felt that the party needs support and volunteers,” says the 37-year-old software consultant. His wife shares his passion, having shifted base from Delhi to Chandigarh to support the party. “For a nation to change its political scenario, women have to play a pivotal role. I am proud of the time I am spending for AAP. It is my duty to protect my nation from venal politicians,” says Kaur.

Higher refining margins helped Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) to maintain its profitability in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014, when its domestic exploration business received a setback due to drop in production.

RIL reported a net profit of Rs.5,631 crore during the quarter under review as compared to Rs.5,589 crore in the year ago period, up 0.8 per cent Sales turnover was higher by 12.9 per cent at Rs.97,807 crore against Rs.86,618 crore.

For the whole of 2013-14, RIL reported a 4.7 per cent growth in net profit at Rs.21,984 crore against Rs.21,003 crore in the previous year. Sales turnover increased by 8.1 per cent to Rs.4.01 lakh crore from Rs.3.71 lakh crore.

“Financial year 2013-14 was a satisfying year for RIL. Refining business delivered the highest ever profits with a sharp recovery in gross refining margins (GRM) towards the end of the year. Petrochemical earnings grew sharply with margin expansion across polymers and downstream polyester products,” Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, RIL, said in a statement.

“While we continue to face technical challenges in growing domestic upstream production, the U.S. shale gas business grew significantly during the year and has become a material contributor to our earnings. Retail business has turned around and is now India’s largest retail chain. We have also accelerated efforts to roll out our state-of-the-art 4G services across the country which will add an exciting new dimension to our consumer facing service offerings,” Mr. Ambani said.

In the domestic exploration and production business, RIL received a setback at the KG-D6 and Panna Mukta fields. The KG-D6 field produced 2.03 million barrels of crude oil, 0.28 million barrels of condensate and 178 BCF of natural gas in FY14, a reduction of 30 per cent, 30 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively on a year-on-year basis. “Fall in production is mainly attributed to the geological complexity and natural decline in the fields and higher than envisaged water ingress,” RIL said. However, RIL’s shale gas business continued on its growth path and has now achieved materiality in many respects. “During 2013-14, revenues were $893.3 million and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was $659.4 million reflecting year-on-year growth of 45 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively. Going forward, shale gas will continue to be our focus area and this year we will be investing $600-700 million and will open 125 to 175 new wells this year,” RIL Chief Financial Officer Alok Agarwal said at a press briefing.

On the deadlock over the natural gas price issue from KG-D6 fields, Mr. Agarwal declined to give any specific answer. “We are where we were. Let us see what is coming out from the government notification. We have an issue and we need to deal with it,” Mr. Agarwal said. Asked whether the fertilizer companies have responded to RIL’s demand to furnish bank guarantee, he refused to answer.

In the refining and marketing business, RIL witnessed revenue growth of 8.4 per cent. RIL’s GRM for the financial year was $8.1/bbl as against $9.2/bbl in the previous year. “GRM improved sharply in the fourth quarter to $9.3/bbl from $7.6/bbl in the previous quarter,” it said.

RIL’s petrochemical business in 2013-14 witnessed a revenue growth of 9.5 per cent year-on-year to Rs.96,465 crore. Revenue growth was led by 8.6 per cent increase in prices and 0.9 per cent growth in volumes, the company said.

Reliance Retail achieved record performance in sales and profits for the year. Total revenue grew by 34 per cent to Rs.14,496 crore and achieved PBDIT (profit before depreciation, interest and tax) of Rs.363 crore. “This achievement was in spite of the continued challenging macro-economic environment,” the company said.

RIL did not spell out the exact roll-out timing of its telecom service under Reliance Jio Infocomm. The company has so far invested Rs.33000 crore in this business and services are expected to be launched in the near future.

“The results are on expected lines. Net profit could have been better. While depreciation charges dampened profits, refining margins have helped in improving profit. The GRM is much better than the Singapore benchmark,” said Devan Choksey, Managing Director and CEO, KR Choksey Shares & Securities.

Mumbai: Thing are looking up for 16-year-old Rajib Roy, who lives in the red light district of Kolkata. The young boy who is the son of a sex-worker grew up in the slums of Kolkata, and has been chosen to train with Manchester United, Daily Mail reported.

Roy is one of 11 teens arriving in the UK this weekend to spend two weeks training with Manchester United.

The youngster impressed talent scouts from the famous English club at a national tournament for India’s best young football players. Unlike the other selected teens that come from well-off families and speak fluent English, Roy has grown up playing the sport barefoot in the streets of one of the largest red light areas in Kolkata.

Sonagachi is home to 12,00 sex workers, where Roy shares a single room with his mother Rekha and younger brother. In their tiny room, hangs a poster of Chelsea football club’s Oscar, Rajib’s idol as he can relate to the sportsman who also comes from a poor family in Brazil.

Roy’s life changed two years ago, when his mother sent him to ‘Rahul Vidya Niketan’ the local school for children of sex workers. After a football initiative was set up at the school, Rajib took a keen interest in the sport.

Earlier this year, Rajib’s West Bengal team won the National Slum Soccer Tournament at Nagpur. The selected teens will fly to Britain and Old Trafford on Sunday.

The boys will also get a free tour of the famous stadium, which normally costs £20- the monthly income of Rajib’s family.

“People keep asking me how it feels to be my mother’s son and then achieve something like this. I don’t know how to answer that question. But when my coach told me I had been selected by Manchester United it was like a father’s recognition,” Rajib was quoted saying.

“My mother is a very shy person. She would lock me in my room after lunch so that I could take a nap, but I would quietly sneak out to play with my friends. Last month I was selected along with 30 others to participate in a camp in Goa through a nationwide school championship competition. “

The teen is exited to be a part of the training and can’t wait to see what’s in store for him.

London: A parrot named Jack reportedly has become a local celebrity as he drinks beer, wears hoodies and headbangs to Status Quo’s music.

Norie MacKinnon, of East Kilbride, Scotland, is the owner of the six-year-old macaw.

MacKinnon said that the parrot loved his beer and red wine and nowadays he buys him a pint down the pub where he just takes a few sips out of it, the Daily Star reported.

The 54-year-old owner said that he bought a mate for him a couple of years ago i.e. a female blue and gold macaw called Cheeky, but he couldn’t stand her so she had to go.

MacKinnon added that Jack even tries to sing along to songs like ‘Whatever You Want’ but it just comes out as a squawk.

MacKinnon said that he named it after Jack Sparrow from the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.

Bantwal, Apr 19: Bantwal residents organized a protest at the toll plaza, Brahmara Kootlu on April 19, Saturday against the repeated attack on tollgate staff.

Reportedly, toll gate staff Sathyaraj was attacked by a group youth at around 3 am and has been admitted to a private hospital. A complaint has been filed at the Bantwal police station in this regard.

The protesters said that previously too the same group had attacked another tollgate staff Girish on April 15 and the complaint was filed against Hussainer, Nowry and Siddique at Bantwal Police Station. But no action was taken against them.

Hence they demanded the police to arrest the culprits as soon as possible.

Rajashekar Mestri, inspector of Bantwal Police station visited the spot.

They were released on bail and the traffic department fined her 28-year-old husband 900 Riyals and impounded his car for seven days.

A Saudi woman defied the kingdom’s ban on female driving, getting behind the wheel of her husband’s car before police detained the couple and fined the man, a newspaper said on Sunday.

The 23-year-old woman was caught driving on Thursday in the Qatif district in Eastern Province, the Saudi Gazette said, adding police forced the couple to sign a pledge not to repeat the offence.

They were released on bail and the traffic department fined her 28-year-old husband 900 Riyals and impounded his car for seven days, it said.

The woman also received a penalty for driving without a license, a permit that she cannot apply for in the kingdom because of its ban on female driving.

The infected people are in hospital isolation and as such are not causing any risk to the public or other patients.

The UAE has confirmed 12 new cases of Coronavirus (Mers-CoV), who are well but incidentally tested positive during routine screenings.

The new cases are expected to clear the virus within 10-14 days with no treatment. The infected people are in hospital isolation and as such are not causing any risk to the public or other patients.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Health Authority — Abu Dhabi (Haad) are dealing with the situation with full transparency to ensure the public is aware of the current situation. The Haad confirmed that the current situation is not a public health concern and that it is coordinating with the MoH and other authorities in the country.

Meanwhile, two foreigners died of Mers in the Saudi city of Jeddah, the health ministry said on Saturday. The ministry said five more people were infected with the virus in the western city, including two foreign medics aged 54.

The latest deaths of a 64-year-old and 44-year-old, whose nationalities were undisclosed, bring to 76 the overall number of people to have died of Mers in Saudi Arabia, from 231 infections.

Three Coronavirus cases tested negative: Haad

The Health Authority — Abu Dhabi (Haad) has said that three of the individuals who are in isolation in hospital with Mers Coronavirus have now tested negative for the virus, and will be leaving the hospital soon.

Haad said that these three cases were confirmed positive through routine screening of contacts, and were kept in isolation at hospitals as a precautionary measure. They were able to clear the virus within 10 days themselves without any treatment.

Haad also expects that the other individuals with positive Mers Coronavirus currently in isolation in hospitals will likewise soon test negative and be able to go home. They are being tested daily to check on their positive status.

Wam

A condolence meet was organized by Sri Veera Venkatesha Charitable Trust at Srinivasa Kalyana Mantap, Mangalore on 18 th Friday at 5pm . Mizar Shivananda Pai , son of Late Sadananda Pai and Mizar Annappa Pai brother of Late Sadananda Pai were present.

T.Ganapathi.Pai , secretary of Veera Venkatesha Charitable Trust spoke and told that we have lost a great philanthropist, a person who was always thinking about welfare of the economically backward segment of the society. He told that Sadananda Pai had keen interest in helping the society mainly in three areas (1) education (2) Health Care (3) To promote value education amoungst youngsters.

He told that through our trust Sadananda Pai & his family members have helped thousands of students every year by giving scholarships. The Trustee of Sri Venkataramana Temple Sri Padmanabha Pai, Dr Mohan Pai, Sri Venkatesha Baliga, Kalbavi Prakash Rao , Sri A.K.Manjunath Shenoy and a few students who were benificieries of his scholarship also spoke and paid tribute to the departed soul.

Mizar Annappa Pai spoke on behalf of their family and told he is proud to be the brother of such a great person and he told their family will continue to keep the good work initiated by his late brother. Sri M Nagesh Pai, Sri Basty Vaman Shenoy, members of GSB Sabha Kodical, members of ASRP Association and lot of well wishers and students took part in the condolence meet.

India should keenly monitor both agricultural production and population growth so that food security is fully protected, Governor H.R. Bhardwaj has said.

Speaking after releasing books in ‘The basics of human civilisation: food, agriculture and humanity’ series here on Saturday, the Governor stressed the need to use innovative technology to increase food production and treat it as “top priority.”

India could make progress in the early years of Independence because of the innovations of dedicated agricultural scientists, he said. He warned that no other country would come to the rescue of India in case of food scarcity.
Potential areas

Mr. Bhardwaj said poultry and fisheries were potential areas of growth in Karnataka, and added that Maharashtra and Punjab also held potential. He said more youngsters should take to agriculture since it was now rewarding and had marketing potential, unlike earlier.

Minister for Law and Justice and Animal Husbandry T.B. Jayachandra and the former Union Minister M.V. Rajasekharan were present.

The books have been brought out by Dr. Prem Nath Agricultural Science Foundation in Bangalore.

NEW DELHI: BJP president Rajnath Singh has pulled up Bihar leader Giriraj Singh for his statement that all those opposed to Narendra Modi should go to Pakistan as they have no place in India, according to TV reports.

The BJP chief has reportedly asked Giriraj Singh to refrain from making such remarks.

According to Times Now, Giriraj has also been warned of disciplinary action if he repeats such remarks.

Earlier the party disapproved of the statement made by Giriraj Singh.

“BJP doesn’t approve of irresponsible statement given by Giriraj Singh,” former deputy chief minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi tweeted on Sunday morning.

Giriraj Singh, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Nawada, had accused Modi’s opponents of acting on behalf of Pakistan.

“Those opposing Narendra Modi are looking at Pakistan, and such people will have place in Pakistan and not in India,” Giriraj Singh told a poll meeting at Mohanpur Haat Maidan near the temple town Deogarh on Friday.

He further said, “Those who have united in Bihar and the country to stop Narendra Modi from becoming Prime Minister are pro-Pakistan. They have no right to live in India.”

On Saturday, he told TOI on phone from Bhagalpur that he did indeed make the remarks, reiterating, “I meant to say that those opposing Narendra Modi are doing so at the behest of Pakistan. They are pro-Pakistan people and need not stay in India.”

The Congress has slammed Giriraj Singh for his comments and has decided to lodge a complaint with the Election Commission.

“Language used is a threat to a particular community,will complain to EC, a conspiracy to divide nation,” Congress leader KC Mittal said.

Congress leader Meem Afzal said, “EC must take cognizance of this and send Giriraj Singh to jail for his statement.”

The CPI (M) general secretary was in Ludhiana to seek votes for party candidate Sukhminder Singh Sekhon

CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat on Sunday claimed there is a strong “anti-Congress wave” in the country which would benefit the Third Front and not the BJP.

“Forget that the country will have a Congress government this time,” he told reporters here.

When asked if they would seek the support of the Congress in forming the government, he shot back, “It is for the Congress party to see whether they have to support the secular forces or not.”

In reply to another question regarding the book Accidental Prime Minister written by Sanjaya Baru, a former media advisor of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the CPI (M) leader terms it as a purely subjective version but he totally disagreed with what had been written about the role of the Left parties.

Mr. Karat was in the city to seek votes for the CPI (M) candidate from Ludhiana Sukhminder Singh Sekhon.

Only Narendra Modi will be the Prime Minister of an NDA government irrespective of its tally in the new Lok Sabha, BJP president Rajnath Singh made it clear on Sunday.

“Modi will be the Prime Minister of NDA government under any circumstances,” he said in an interview to PTI on board his chartered campaign aircraft.

The BJP leader’s categorical assertion came in response to a question about the possibility of NDA falling short of a majority and any new ally insisting on a different leader, other than Mr. Modi.

“The country cannot be ruled only by the laws but by a leader who has moral authority. Only a person who has been projected as the PM candidate or CM candidate will have that moral authority,” he said.

Skull cap controversy

Mr. Singh dismissed as “unnecessary controversy” Modi’s refusal to wear a ‘skull cap’ (worn by Muslims).

“This is an attempt to make an issue of a non-issue in a planned manner by our political opponents. I wear dhoti-kurta, he (Modi) wears kurta-pyjama, you wear shirt-pant. Is this an issue? They (opponents) want to communalise the country,” he said.

Endorsing the BJP prime ministerial candidate’s refusal to appeal to any particular community for votes, Mr. Singh said, “There should be no appeal to any caste, creed or religion to vote in a particular manner. Everyone has the freedom to exercise franchise and it should be free. We issue appeal to all sections of the society without any discrimination.”

‘Muslims need not fear’

About addressing the concerns of Muslims, Mr. Singh said, “We are gradually removing the apprehensions… Their fear will be removed through dialogue.”

Asked whether Mr. Modi is going to hold dialogue with Muslim leaders, the BJP chief merely said, “Talks keep happening. Modiji also keeps talking to them. You must have seen Muslims now support Modi.”

To buttress his point that more Muslims are now supporting Mr. Modi, he claimed that the community members feel “more secure” in Gujarat and that their per capita income is better than their counterparts in rest of the country.

“Gradually, the message is reaching to the Muslims that it was planned propaganda of Congress and other so-called secular parties. They will continue to come close to Modi and BJP and illusion of fear will end,” he said.

Gujarat riots

On 2002 riots, he said the Gujarat Chief Minister has made no mistake and there is no case for an apology.

“Majority of riots took place during Congress rule. Have they (Congress) apologised,” Singh shot back when referred to demands that Modi should apologise for the 2002 riots.

Asked whether Congress should apologise first and then Mr. Modi will do so, he said, “I am not saying that. Had there been any mistake on part of Modi, had he made no effort to control the riots, then there could be apology.

“But, being the Chief Minister, he made the maximum effort, tried his best, to control the riots. He never tried to scuttle any probe. Then why are there still demands for apology? This is vindictive politics by Congress.”

Describing Mr. Modi as the “most harassed” politician, Mr. Singh said Congress is targeting him as it is “desperate” because of his popularity.

Mr. Singh, who gave the interview during his hectic campaigning which involves around three to four rallies per day on an average, was questioned whether Mr. Modi would have had better acceptability if the 2002 riots had not taken place.

“Modi has acceptability even now and it is growing. Nobody from any caste or religion is unhappy with him. People understand that Congress has always played the communal card,” he said.

Attacking critics of Mr. Modi, the BJP chief said, “He (Modi) has faced so much of political attack over the 2002 riots, politically-motivated allegations, even after he was given a clean chit by the Supreme Court-appointed investigation.”

Asked whether it had harmed Mr. Modi or benefited him, he said it had not discouraged him from working for development of Gujarat.

Questioned whether the 2002 riots was a “weak point” for Mr. Modi and the BJP, Mr. Singh said, “Congress is making it an issue to divert attention from good governance and development issues. They want to run away from these issues.”

Modi’s larger-than-party image

He was asked about the perception that Mr. Modi had become larger than the party which was against the ideals of BJP which believes the party is bigger than an individual and that this was also reflected in the posters where only Mr. Modi’s pictures dominated.

In his response, the party chief said, “BJP has a tradition that we project more prominently the person whom we declare as PM or CM candidate. That is why we are highlighting Modiji. We will give him prominent space in posters.”

He said in the previous polls, Atal Bihari Vajpayee dominated the campaign and subsequently L.K. Advani.

Tired of Delhiites using religious rituals as an excuse to pollute the Yamuna, a non-government organisation has decided to intercept devotees before they fling their offerings into the river.

Four strategically-placed vessels, shaped like giant matkas (earthen pots), are placed on the ITO bridge from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day to collect flowers, earthen idols and other ceremonial offerings.

As vehicles slow down near the fenced boundary of the bridge, attendants approach them, asking if the occupants have anything to throw in the river. The offerings are then taken to Ghazipur and segregated for recycling.

Run by the Youth Fraternity Foundation, with help from the Delhi Government’s Environment Department, the initiative is aimed at reducing pollution in the Yamuna.

The ‘pushpanjali prawaha patras’ (offering collection boxes) are placed on cycle-carts along the bridge.

This project was first started in October last year, when these carts would go to popular temples across the city to collect offerings. Around a month ago, the NGO decided to focus on solid waste being dumped from the ITO bridge. Now, the carts make a round of temples in the morning before reaching the bridge.

“You will not believe what all we have collected. From flowers to religious calendars, to even shoes have been collected by our kalash (vessel),” said YFF president Guru Dutt Aakash.

Segregation of waste

In Ghazipur, the offerings are sorted into different piles like paper, flowers, plastics, earthenware, coconut husks etc. The biodegradable waste is turned into compost and the rest is recycled.

“We haven’t been able to recycle the idols as of now as we don’t have the relevant machine, so we are collecting them and looking for alternatives. We have four truckloads of idols alone out of the 32 truckloads of material we have collected so far,” he added.

The Environment Department, which sanctioned the project around three months ago, gave the foundation Rs.3 lakh to pay salaries and procure the vessels and carts.

“We wanted to make the Yamuna less polluted and also respect people’s religious sentiments,” said Environment Department Director Dr. Anil Kumar.

Manoj Misra of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan welcomed the initiative. “It is a step in the right direction, but it needs to be done on a sustained basis at all such bridges in the city,” he said.

And that is exactly what the foundation hopes to do if this pilot project works out. “We could provide employment to over 600 people all over Delhi and really make a dent in the pollution level of the river,” said Mr. Aakash.

Currently, the foundation is using personal funding from members to run the pilot scheme in addition to government assistance, but it is hoping to get financial help to expand the project.

With a different kind of ‘divine intervention’, the foundation is hoping to restore the Yamuna to its past glory.

Washington: Do you often get frustrated with online forms that ask you to type jumbled letters to prove that you are human? New technology can easily decipher them.

CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) puzzles are designed to tell humans and bots apart on the web for reasons such as minimising spam.

Different CAPTCHA services go about differentiating humans and bots in different ways, for example, distorting and skewing a series of letters to make them too difficult for automated programmes to decipher, but not so difficult that humans can’t make them out.

Researchers have found that Google’s Street View technology can decipher them with 99 per cent accuracy, ‘Gizmag’ reported.

A company that Google bought in 2009, reCAPTCHA, takes a different approach that not only provides the security of a CAPTCHA form, but actually serves another purpose. reCAPTCHA is used to digitise old printed materials such as books.

It presents the user with two words that could not initially be read by computers – one that has previously been verified by a number of users and one that has not. In this way, it can both determine if a user is human and partially verify a new word.

Given the purpose and prevalence of CAPTCHAs, it’s understandable that individuals with malicious intent may want to crack them.

Google does its own research into this so that it can improve the security of the reCAPTCHA service. As part of its research, it has applied the technology it uses for identifying house numbers in Street View to identifying CAPTCHA words.

The research found that the technology could “decipher the hardest distorted text puzzles from reCAPTCHA with over 99 per cent accuracy.”

As a result, Google suggests that answering a distorted image puzzle should not be the only factor used to distinguish a human from a machine.